Not applicable.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an oil lamp disperser and an oil lamp that disperse a volatile material as a lamp burns and more specifically to a disperser and lamp that disperse the volatile material from a mixture of fuel and volatile material whereby the volatile material is dispersed in an even manner all the while the lamp is in operation.
2. Description of the Related Art
Oil lamps have been burned using petroleum and vegetable oils for light and aesthetic purposes for centuries. Dispersing a volatile material from the lamp into the surrounding air while the lamp burns, has been a desirable feature of an oil lamp. Attempts to simultaneously disperse a volatile material and provide light from the oil lamp have resulted in complex, unsafe and unreliable devices until now.
The simple addition of a volatile material to the fuel of a conventional oil lamp does not promote the dispersion of the volatile material to the surrounding environment when the lamp is burning. This is due to the fact that the volatile material has no opportunity to be released from the fuel into the air during the operation of the lamp. The volatile material is almost completely consumed along with the fuel in the flame of the lamp as the oil lamp burns. Therefore, the addition of a volatile material to the fuel of a conventional oil lamp has been ineffective in producing a dispersion of the volatile material into the surrounding air.
One of the most common volatile materials that has been attempted to be dispersed is a fragrance. A variety of oil lamps have been described that produce fragranced air during the burning of the lamp. All of these oil lamps have significant negative drawbacks to their operation.
The use of a fragranced plastic cover for an oil lamp is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,892,711. As the lamp heats up, fragrance is released from the cover. This device does not provide a constant, even flow of fragrance to the surroundings because the fragrance will be released less and less as the lamp burns until the fragrance in the cover is exhausted. Therefore the level of fragrance in the air is much less at the end of the life of the fragranced cover, making this device unreliable in delivering a constant level of fragrance.
The use of collars filled with fragrant oils or waxes that are placed around the lamp in the proximity of the wick have been described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,290,914. The use of a pad that is positioned around the flame to accept fragrance oils has also been described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,840,246. The use of a perfume holding area has been described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,840,257 in which fragrance is placed in a holding area around the flame of the lamp. There are several major disadvantages to all of these approaches to dispersing fragrance into the environment while burning an oil lamp. First, the collars, pad and holding area must be replaced or replenished with fragrance separately from the fuel. This is necessary because their use up rates will be very different from the use up rate of the fuel. It is likely that the collars described in the ""914 patent will need to be replaced at a more frequent rate than the fuel in virtually all oil lamps. The fragrance must be replaced onto the pad and holding area described in the ""246 and ""257 patents frequently during the burning of the lamp for the same reason. A second major disadvantage of these devices is that the fragrance is released at a decreasing rate during the operation of the lamp. This is because there is no automatic means to replenish the fragrance as it volatilizes and leaves the collar or pad. The result is that the user smells much more fragrance when the lamp is first burning compared to after the lamp has burned for 12 hours. These devices require frequent fragrance replacement and deliver unreliable levels of fragrance to their surroundings.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,669,767 and 6,333,009 describe the addition of fragrance directly to the oil lamp fuel and the volatilization of the fragrance directly from the container. This is accomplished using a heat transfer system. This system transfers the heat produced by the lamp flame into the fuel/fragrance mixture within the container, heating the fuel/fragrance mixture and allowing the fragrance to escape the container through holes in the container. While these devices can fragrance the surrounding environment, they have major disadvantages. First, they produce varying fragrance levels in the air. As the lamp burns, the fuel level drops within the container. The flame, however, continues to produce the same amount of heat that is transferred into the container at the same rate with the consequence that the temperature of the fuel in the container rises as the lamp fuel is consumed. A wide temperature differential will produce widely different volatilization profiles for the fragrance as a result of different levels of fuel within the lamp. A second disadvantage of this system is that the fragrance character changes during the life of one fuel filling of the lamp. Fragrances are made with materials that have varying volatilities. Some fragrance components known as top notes are very volatile and some components known as bottom notes are not very volatile. When the lamp is first filled and the fuel/fragrance mixture heats up, the top notes of the fragrance escape rapidly through the holes in the container whereas the bottom notes escape slowly. During the initial burning of the lamp, the fragrance that is volatilized from the lamp has a high concentration of the top notes. This results in a concentration of the bottom notes in the remaining oil. During subsequent lamp burnings the fragrance that is volatilized has a higher concentration of the bottom notes. Therefore, the fragrance that is volatilized during the first half verses the last half of the lamp burn will have a very different character due to the different materials volatilized. A third disadvantage to both of the above devices that heat the lamp oil is the potential for direct user exposure to the heated lamp fuel. This exposure could occur by accidental spillage during use through the vent openings that are described that allow the volatilized fragrance to escape. This presents a safety issue due to the potential user exposure to burns from the hot fuel. Additionally, there is a great potential for damage to furniture and any other surface upon which this lamp might be placed because of the increased temperature of the container.
The invention described herein addresses and solves all of the problems described above from previous attempts to fragrance the surrounding air, by allowing the user to disperse a volatile material into the surroundings in an efficient, simple and safe means by including the volatile material directly into the fuel of the lamp for release during burning without exposing the user to the potential of direct contact with hot lamp fuel.
Now in accordance with the invention there has been found a novel oil lamp disperser and oil lamp adapted to disperse volatile materials.
More specifically, a first embodiment of the present invention relates to a disperser having an emanator element, a fuel transfer means to transfer fuel and volatile material to the emanator element and a wick. A second embodiment of the present invention relates to an oil lamp having a container containing a fuel and a volatile material, an emanator element, a fuel transfer means to transfer the fuel and volatile material to the emanator element and a wick. In an additional embodiment a heat transfer element is adapted to transfer the heat of the lamp flame to the emanator element. In some embodiments a fragrance, insecticide or insect repellant is included in the container as the volatile material. In one embodiment icons can be included in the container. In an additional embodiment a process to treat the air comprises lighting a lamp that contains a fuel and a volatile material producing an action within the lamp to draw the fuel and volatile material through the fuel transfer means, through the emanator element where at least a portion of the volatile material volatilizes and through the wick to provide fuel to the flame, thereby producing light and volatilizing a volatile material into the surrounding air.
Further objectives and advantages of the subject invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art from the detailed description of the disclosed invention.